The Hurry-Up is your nightly dose of updates from the Ohio State football recruiting trail, keeping tabs on the latest from commits and targets from around the country.
Spindler a potential Notre Dame lean
We unapologetically discussed the offensive line ad nauseam last week, and there’s good reason for it. Ohio State could be building something special there, and if Day wants to have the best offense in the nation in two, three or four years, that’s where he needs to pour his efforts into, since his quarterbacks for the 2020 and 2021 classes are locked down, he has one of the best receiver hauls of all-time on campus (2020) and the 2021 cycle's receivers already looks to be headed toward something great as well.
And this is a great point “Domeeye” brings up. Rocco Spindler is another versatile athlete who would be a great fit for Ohio State. He’s currently ranked as the nation’s 40th-best overall prospect, the sixth-best offensive tackle and second-best player in the state of Michigan.
Spindler is an awesome talent. He is still listed as a defensive tackle in his recruiting profile, and perhaps it’s possible he plays that spot in college one day, but offensive line is where he's being recruited the heaviest. He’s another prospect who meets the mold of what Day wants to bring in, and it’s shaping up to be an Ohio State-Michigan-Notre Dame three-way race.
— Rocco Spindler (@RoccoSpindler92) May 24, 2019
Greg Mattison began heavily recruiting Spindler during his time with the Wolverines, and the two have a great relationship.
“He’s always been open arms and welcoming me in,” Spindler told Eleven Warriors in June, saying that Mattison had been recruiting him since he was a freshman. “He makes me feel like family. We’re like best friends.”
Clarkston's Rocco Spindler was another Michigan OL who had a good Future 50 camp while consistently going against some of the tougher DL to block there.https://t.co/G6kcAYHKon pic.twitter.com/uochJR4d0B
— Allen Trieu (@AllenTrieu) January 9, 2020
Spindler recently told Irish Sports Daily’s Christian McCollum that Mattison’s move from Michigan to Ohio State “wasn’t that big of a deal for me.”
In that report, Spindler also touched on the electric atmosphere he experienced for the Buckeyes’ game against Penn State. McCollum’s story is centered around Notre Dame, and it’s clear the Irish are trying to line up their own special O-line class just like the Buckeyes are.
“Blake Fisher is really trying to put me and (Tengwall) together to go play at Notre Dame,” Spindler explained. “After seeing that picture of us three, that could be something that could work out. We all love Notre Dame.”
Blake Fisher, the nation’s No. 9-ranked offensive tackle in 2021, sounds like he is taking the Ben Christman role in South Bend as the point guard in recruiting other recruits. Fisher, Spindler and Landon Tengwall would give Notre Dame an incredibly impressive three-man weave along the offensive line, with Tengwall (No. 5), Spindler (No. 6) and Fisher (No. 9) all ranked in the top 10 at offensive tackle.
I encourage you to read McCollum’s story for more information on where Spindler stands in regards to Notre Dame and Michigan.
Buckeyes “hit a home run” in 2020 OL class
In talking with a couple 2021 offensive line recruits, one of the reasons the Buckeyes are such an intriguing option for them is because of the personnel and personalities already in place in Columbus.
They were speaking about the 2020 offensive line signees who are either on campus already or will be in just a matter of months as official Buckeyes.
Paris Johnson Jr., Luke Wypler, Josh Fryar, Grant Toutant, Jakob James and Trey Leroux is the six-man group that Day and offensive line coach Greg Studrawa pieced together, in addition to Urban Meyer before them.
Some have voiced their concerns about six being too many. With Josh Myers, Wyatt Davis and Thayer Munford all returning, it's reasonable to believe that six offensive linemen is too many. I'm still of the school of thought that you can never have too many offensive linemen, and the Day/Studrawa tandem seems to have that same line of thinking.
"I thought going into this recruiting cycle, offensive line was a huge deal, and I thought Coach Stud did an unbelievable job," Day said. "We signed six offensive linemen, three from Ohio, one from Indiana, one from the state up north, and then one from New Jersey.
"But, again, that was a position of need going into this class, and I thought we hit a home run there."
OSU signee Luke Wypler again. pic.twitter.com/dkrsEv9ohY
— Barton Simmons (@bartonsimmons) December 31, 2019
Ohio State added depth and versatility in that class, as Fryar projects as one who could play anywhere on the line. Toutant, James and Leroux are all projects who need development and most likely won't see on-field action until at least Year 3 or Year 4.
But the Buckeyes also added some star power and a couple polished leaders in the trenches in Johnson and Wypler, who could both start early.
"Paris Johnson, the No. 1 tackle in America, he's been with us all along," Day said. "He helped us in recruiting. He and his mom Monica were a huge part of this thing. I owe them everything because they've kind of kept this thing together for us. They've been a huge part of it, and he's going to have an unbelievable career here."
As for Wypler, Augie Hoffmann – a former offensive guard at Boston College who played for the Eagles when Day was a graduate assistant there in the early 2000s, and who was just hired by Greg Schiano to be an assistant coach at Rutgers – helped get Wypler on Day's radar.
"Luke is another guy who was bought in from the beginning," Day said. "He never wavered at all. I think he's got a chance to be a great interior lineman. You talk about somebody who really takes a lot of pride in the way he goes about his business, he's going to come in here, going to be detailed, he's going to work hard. He comes from a great program, and, again, another guy that I think has got a great ceiling."
